1. Field of the Invention
A portable device that can be worn upon the body for removing airborne contaminants such as pathogenic microbes from inspired air, and, more particularly, a wearable personal electrostatic precipitator configured to create a novel bioelectric protective shield.
2. Prior Art
The potential for human exposure to dangerous concentrations of noxious airborne contaminants such as anthrax spores has increased dramatically in recent months due to the introduction of pathogenic organisms into the work environment by deliberate criminal intent. Exposure to airborne contaminants, such as anthrax spores and other air borne biopathogens as well as sarin gas, is highly probable in the future. Civilians are now under attack from hostile forces on an indiscriminate basis. Although the military has access to bioprotective apparatus, very little is available for the civilian population from the defensive or protective standpoint. Gas masks are impractical to be worn on a long-term basis as they interfere with much daily activity. While treatment is available if exposure to organisms such as anthrax is detected early, most prior art efforts to limit human exposure to airborne contaminants have been directed toward removing such toxic particulates or pathogens from the air stream prior to inhalation by a subject, such as, for example, by filtration masks. Mask-like devices are unpleasant to wear and partially obstruct the airway in order to be effective.
In accordance with the art of removing airborne particulate contaminants from an air stream, electrostatic precipitators have enjoyed success. An advantage of electrostatic precipitation-type devices over mask-like filtration devices is that their operation does not require substantial obstruction of the airway through which the air stream passes. The operation of an electrostatic precipitator involves the generation of a strong electrical field through which an air stream bearing a particulate contaminant passes, so that the particles carried by the air stream can be electrically charged by means of emitted electrons. By charging the particles electrically, they can be separated from the gas stream and collected on a collector having an opposite polarity than the (usually negative) charge residing on the particles.
The generation of such electrical fields requires electrical power supplies that can provide a high DC voltage and the associated electron emission technology to impart a charge on the particulate matter and thereby permit its collection. The operation of the particle charging element in many industrial electrostatic precipitators is based upon AC corona theory. A single phase transformer-rectifier is employed to rectify AC power to DC power and provide a high DC potential between a charging electrode, to charge the particles, and a collection surface, usually a plate. The air stream, which is usually stack gases, passes between the charging electrode and the collector plate and is subjected to the maximum current obtainable through the gas without arcing. This approach is believed to impart the maximum charge to the particles and thereby the maximum efficiency in effecting removal of such particles from the airstream. The operating requirements and power consumption of industrial precipitators generally result in a stationary (i.e., non-portable) system that is heavy, cumbersome and cannot be transported, or worn upon the body of a person for purification of the air that the person breathes. There is an urgent need for an electro-ionic protective device that can be worn upon the body. Such a device is described herein.